Thursday, 29 September 2011

Cats make my eyes itch and I sniffle until no one wants to sit beside me. Granted if I'm striving to become a crazy old lady I guess I won't have many people sitting beside me anyways... but I dont think that my family would even come visit my drippy nose.

Children are very high maintenance beings. And eventually they learn how to talk and tell you all the issues they have with you.

Dogs are the obvious choice for this potnetial crazy lady. I've never seen a child or a cat that jumps for joy purely at the sight of you. My dog is way more entertaining than a screaming child or a cat that stares into your soul and hissed at your touch.

She sleep runs, sleep barks, and sleep cries. She just woke me up and I wasn't angry at all. Instead I grabbed my camera and creeped on her. Unfortuatly I don't have video on my camera so you'll just have to imagine what you'd think dogs would dream about. This particular dream sounded like chasing an uncatchable squirrel.

My parents pay for a subscription to the paper copy that gets updated daily, yet I get mine free with up to the minute updates that I can carry around with me everywhere I go. Seems like a no brainer if you had to choose one right?

This is the issue that print newspapers are facing in this technologically driven society. Page One: Inside the New York Times, a film by Andrew Rossi, chronicles one year at the New York Times as this technology seems to be deteriorating the old fashioned news sources we all grew up with - paper.

Before I saw this documentary I was a little sceptical. How much loss can news apps reallybe causing for companies? I mean I see people reading the paper everyday; on the bus, at school, at work. I really didn’t think that most of the public would find the need to completely shift the way they get their news.

Apparently I was wrong.

The New York Times is one of the few print newspapers that has survived the changes that media has seen with social networking and apps, but the worry isn’t completely absent in their minds. The journalists and editors scramble throughout the film to find ways to be ahead of the curb. They show how news that breaks in the middle of the day is accessible to the public so much faster online than they can offer and they don’t rule out the possibility that the Times could go out of business...

But even with all these troubles journalism seems to be striving at the Times. The level of intelligence and awareness that you see from these journalists especially David Carr and Brian Stelter is astounding. The differences between their styles of reporting is what I thought was the most interesting part of the movie. David Carr spends his time interviewing in person drilling information out everyone and writing like a madman, he’s so passionate about the Times and it’s so evident in his actions.

Brian Stelter is what Carr describes as a robot sent to destroy him. Three screens open at once one he is a social media expert and an incredible multitasker. If you are curious at all about how the newspaper business functions on a day to day basis you need to see this. I was so much more engaged than I thought I would be and it turned out to be a great experience.

Wednesday, 21 September 2011

The other night I saw them play live in Winnipeg for my fifth time along with some Said the Whale rookies and my friends Jordan (6th time) and Nikki (7th time). It’s a cultural thing for us. Some people go for wings and beer, some play paintball together, some watch Big Bang Theory every week... we go to Said the Whale shows. Even after so many shows, they are still phenomenal.

So let me catch you up if you’re a little lost.

Said the Whale is a five piece indie band from Vancouver, BC consisting of...

Some of my STW swag

Ben Worcester (guitar/vocals)

Tyler Bancroft (guitar/vocals)

Spencer Schoening (drums)

Jaycelyn Brown (keyboard)

And

Nathan Shaw (bass)

They’re songs are food for the Canadian soul with lyrics about orienteering, the Canadian Shield, and the staple of any band, love. It’s light and positive with beautifully depressing songs like Curse of the Currents thrown into the mix. But after being to so many shows, it’s not about the music anymore. It’s about the band.

Holly Ontario routine chest tapping

These are some of the nicest most down to earth musicians I’ve ever met. And I have met them every single time I’ve seen them perform. You’d think a band with a recent Juno win under their belt would start to grow and ego but these guys are as friendly as ever. After Monday night’s show they went backstage for no more than a minute or two before coming back out to mingle with the crowd, take pictures and sign whatever you want them to sign. They do it with a smile on their faces laughing with their fans and you can tell that this band isn’t concerned with fame, but instead with what matters most, the music and the people that worship it.

The show the other night was incredible, with a new EP being released in early November there were a lot of new songs that I didn’t know, with a ton of old faves. And even if you don’t know any songs at all Spencer’s smile will make you happy enough to enjoy your night anyways. The last song especially blew my mind...

Best Said the Whale moment EVER.

Curse of the Currents acoustic and off mic. Whole crowd singing along. The energy in the theatre was so incredibly beautiful. Just epic.

Ben and Nathan

This band draws in the strangest odd ball group of people in Winnipeg every time I see them. On my left there were two brace face tween boys singing along, and on my right a hardcore chick with a down styled Mohawk and huge stretched earlobes; also singing along. A few rows back is my friend Michele’s parents, and surrounding me a group of suburban hipster kids that I call my friends. Just a bunch of weirdoes. But that’s the beauty of Said the Whale! Requirements for loving this band are:

Do you like music?

Do you enjoy ukuleles?

Are you Canadian or a Canada enthusiast?

Are you not a huge grump?

If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions try them out! Keep a positive attitude about it, take it lightly, It’s a little weird the first time.

Oh and they also aren’t too bad to look at.

Ps. Mr. Tyler Bancroft if you’re reading this... I’m single and I called dibs on you years ago ;)

And I'll leave you with some classic Said the Whale to get you started! Cheers!

Friday, 16 September 2011

Don't make fun of me for using Twitter.
Don't look down on me for being a social media fanatic or say I'm just jumping on the bandwagon when you don't even know what it is.

I'm connected with my friends, classmates, and teachers.
I can showcase my work directly to people that actually care about my work.
If I have something important or funny to say or ever if I just want to link everyone to a great article I've read I can do that in less than thirty seconds.

My posts don't get lost in 300+ "recent updates" of things that are irrelevant to your life.
If I want to say something to my fellow CreCommers I just have to put a "#" in front of the word CreComm and I can be found so easily in a search.
Employers and professionals in my field can find me and get a sense of my personality and what's important to me.

I see on my timeline only what I care about seeing.
I get up to the minute updates on local and international news
I see what my highschool friends are up to and what my classmates are working on.
My teachers can communicate with me and all my other classmates simply and efficiently.

I don't need to tolerate four new albums a day of everyones cats. I'm allergic therefor I don't care.
I don't need to know when someone I went to elementary school with broke up with her boyfriend of a month. I also don't care.
I don't get 20 emails within an hour of other people commenting on the same picture I commented on 3 days ago. If I like something I can just retweet it and be done with it.

Twitter rocks. Stop looking down on people that use it and forming opinions and what you don't know. Try it out for yourself!

Wednesday, 14 September 2011

One of the biggest rules when you enter any type of work environment is to leave all your personal issues at the door.

These are the following personal "issues" I brought with me to work last night:

-I'm tired
-I had a long day at school
-The True Blood season finale aired on Sunday and I haven't watched it yet
-I had a test today that stressed me out
-The wind messed up my hair
-My bus was crowded
-My bus was loud
-My bus stop is far from school
-My bus is a bus
and...
-I forgot socks so I'm wearing some I found in my car.

The Culprit

So basically I was a huge grump who had no desire to be at work. Then the rogue child showed up; family of 8 with a three year old jogging around the table leaving a path of destruction.

(By destruction I mean a trail of crayons and crumbs)

The Victim

Then the complainers started to pile in by the truck load. Everything from the tough steak ordered very well done (no kidding), to the number of lemons on the iced teas was the biggest problem in the world.

Then I splashed Franks RedHot sauce in my eye... and almost passed out laughing.

It's like the world was telling me to get over myself and move on from my insignificant problems and learn to laugh at myself. Life isn't the traumatic incident we sometimes make it out to be. People complain and children run. It's human nature. Have a good laugh, brush it off and move on. Sometimes it takes a burning eyeball to learn that lesson.

Life's not perfect but it also doesn't suck as much as we think it does.

Sunday, 11 September 2011

Going out for dinner in Roughriders jerseys in Winnipeg less than 24 hours before the Banjo Bowl is just asking for heckling.

the parents heading out the todays game

Last night I was working at my job at Tony Romas when a family of two adults and three grown children came into the lounge for dinner with the dad wearing that awful green jersey. Coming from a family that has held Bomber season tickets for years I immediately felt a competitive streak coming on.

The family was very friendly; first tried to order Pilsner which I followed by informing them I’d have to ask management if it was acceptable to serve Riders fans in our establishment.

The oldest son ordered a round of shots made with crème de menthe... we made them with peppermint schnapps so they weren’t green.

That was followed by the manager informing me he was “ruining my tip” which meant buying the table a round of blue and gold shots.

The son’s rebuttal was going out to the car to put in his Rider's jersey.

Management, bartenders, and I continued joking around with them, teasing each other until their night was done. It was light-hearted and no harm was meant... everyone was just having fun.

Then they tipped me less than 5%

Did we push it too far?

I would think that by coming out to eat at a restaurant that plays sports on big screens they would be aware that a reaction to the Riders jerseys was inevitable.

Winnipeg is more hyped up on Bomber fever than ever and with a 7-2 record you have to expect us to defend our local heroes.

I thought a fan base with so much team spirit could handle a little teasing... They wear watermelons on their heads!!!

a proud bomber fan

Oh well. Have fun at the game this afternoon, tease the Rider's fans but keep it clean. No one wants to be the crazy person being escorted out of the stadium. Hopefully we can all joke around and have a good time with our watermelon head neighbours today.

Thursday, 8 September 2011

That is my only advice to you today. A bus may say "16" on the front but really there are several different routes associated with that number and I will undoubtedly hop right onto the wrong bus; happy as a clam, bobbin along to my iPod with full intentions of arriving home within the next hour.

I had two hours to get from Red River College to my house in South St.Vital and back to Kildonan Park for my first ultimate frisbee game of this season... an hour in my quest I found myself sitting on the bench in front of a 711 having a consolation slurpee to sheild myself from the pain of knowing that I had failed at taking the bus. Again.

There must be an app for this...

Shame evolved to pure embarrassment when my mother had to come pick me up off the side of the road to bring me home... (thanks Mom!)